Real Property

Ohio Revised Code Section 319.54(F)(3) establishes a
mandatory transfer fee on the conveyance of real property.
The fee is one dollar per thousand dollars of value of real
property transferred. In addition, Ohio Revised Code Section
322.02 allows the board of county commissioners of each
county to levy a permissive real property transfer fee of up
to three dollars per thousand dollars of value of real
property transferred. In simple terms, both the mandatory fee
and the permissive county fee (a maximum of 4 mills) apply to
the selling price of real estate at the time of sale. The
revenue from both the mandatory fee and the permissive fee is
deposited in the general fund of the county--none of the
revenue goes to the state.

There was one county (Tuscarawas) that did not submit
calendar year 2002 data. Incorporating that county's prior
year's collections, it is estimated that conveyance fees
generated $109.5 million ($39.6 million mandatory fees and
$69.9 million from the permissive fees) in collections during
2002. The number of conveyances by county on which the
mandatory transfer fees were collected ranged from 321 in
Noble County to 30,942 in Franklin County. The total
mandatory transfer fees collected by each county ranged from
$11,991 in Noble County to $5.5 million in Franklin County.
The average mandatory transfer fee collected by each county
ranged from $31.54 in Vinton County to $243.33 in Delaware
County, with a statewide average of $129.60. (The average
total
transfer fee, including both mandatory and permissive fees,
collected by each county ranged from $38.59 in Meigs County
to $782.56 in Geauga County, with a statewide average of
$358.40.) For the 73 counties having a permissive real
property transfer fee in effect in 2002, the total collected
(both mandatory fee and permissive fee) ranged from $23,982
in Noble County to $17.6 million in Cuyahoga County.

Ohio Revised Code Section 319.54(F)(3) exempts certain
conveyances from the mandatory transfer fee. During 2002, a
total of 243,421 (44.4 percent of the total) transfer fee
statements filed with the county auditors were exempted from
the fee. The lowest percentage exempted was in Delaware
County with 28.5 percent exempted. Wyandot County, with 66.0
percent, had the highest percentage exempted.

Table PC-1 shows the revenues collected by each county from
both the mandatory transfer fee and the permissive real
property transfer fee. The data presented in the table were
compiled from a survey of county auditors conducted by the
Ohio Department of Taxation.